life newspaper of the university of freiburg www.leben.uni-freiburg.de 03 2017 padding: fat cells alter with age > p. 4 learning: german lessons at the market > p. 9 stopping: rules preventing constant availability > p. 10 animal custodians of the countryside a sheep appears curious and trusting, like the other animals in the meadow, at a press gathering on site in june 2017. photo: jürgen gocke sheep and goats graze the freiburg castle hill – and help promote research, teaching and conservation by nicolas scherger hello!” cries nicolas schoof, moving two electric fence wires aside and entering the meadow – a slope on freiburg’s castle hill, grassland below, for- est above. peace and quiet. then a black goat stretches its neck out between the trees, glances around and struts down the slope to meet the visitors. frauke is the alpha. a few moments later four more goats follow her down. “that’s the herd instinct,” says schoof and smiles. but all the same the phd student from the faculty of environment and natural resources of the uni- versity of freiburg hasn’t gathered all his fl ock yet. so off we go into the woods. there we find an old pagoda from the days when the area was still a park. in the shade lounging on the cool stone, three sheep chew the cud at their ease. so now they are all there, the eight custodians of the countryside working on behalf of conservation, research and teaching: this coop- eration project with the further education academy of the german caritas association that owns the area is expected to show the long term changes from grazing to fl ora and fauna, as part of its teaching work. the herd includes wald- schafe, a longwool breed of sheep, tauernscheck goats and one nera verzasca goat – all farm animals at risk of extinction. “i’m actively engaged in conser- vation, and so i had the idea of ini- tiating a project at the university of freiburg as well,” says schoof. in june 2016 he found the right part- ner: dr. dirk sichelschmidt, deputy director of the further education academy and as such responsible amongst other things for its quality and environmental management. he was immediately attracted by the idea. in addition, the student council of the university of freiburg gave the grazing project funding of eur 1,700 and with it fi nanced the electric fence that is powered by solar panels as well as the purchase of the animals from an adventure farm in neckartal. even before they arrived, students recorded the vegetation on the site, in order to be able to compare data later. the meadow of almost the magic nibbles tree: nicolas schoof, the initiator of the grazing project, gives two tauernscheck goats a delicious treat. waist-high grass and moss almost completely covering the ground was already starting to turn into forest – if it had been left untend- ed, in just a few years shrubs and trees would have been growing. the forest itself had hollow trunks and dead wood which offer valua- ble ecological niches, but as a whole it was too dark there for many species. finally in april 2017 everything was ready. “it was lovely to ob- serve how the animals straight away explored everything on the site,” remarks sichelschmidt. they were especially pleased with the brambles, but nettles were less popular. and there were clear changes after just a few weeks: the grass in the meadow now looks as if trimmed with a mower, and the soil has been loosened by hoofs walking on it, giving a chance again to seeds from other plants. gradually, it is expected that the brambles and moss will recede too and wildfl owers which are interest- ing to insects will start to grow in- stead. in turn, they could attract animals such as smooth snakes, wall lizards or bats. so species of plants and animals which were originally native here and which are especially valuable for conser- vation, would return to the site. in the forest, meanwhile, the animals have nibbled the bark off many trees and eaten up small shoots. in the long term it is hoped that this will once again create a habitat for species which still fi nd it too dark here at the moment – such as cuckoo pint, melick, silver- washed fritillary or the speckled wood butterfly. “the law that no grazing can take place in the forest without special authorization is a real problem from the point of view of conservation,” says schoof. “the animals promote biodiversity in natural ways – it’s far better than any habitat care with machinery.” over the coming semesters, he wants to study the long-term changes to fl ora and fauna in re- search projects together with his students. other conservation measures are planned too, which students can also take part in: op- tions include a pond for amphibi- ans, piles of stones for newts or a ‘bee hotel’. an adventure area for guests but that’s not all! “the project is creating a new adventure area for guests of the further education academy and everyone from freiburg and the region,” says schoof. so far this is especially ap- parent at the academy itself, which welcomes around 24,000 guests to conferences and for overnight stays each year. it is part of a pilot group of fi ve caritas organizations that in june 2017 received the eu- ropean union’s emas certifi cation for environmental management – the grazing project played an im- portant part in this as an example of careful, sustainable manage- ment of the land. “the animals are very much enjoyed by our guests as well as by our staff, and give rise to a wide variety of reactions,” comments sichelschmidt. amongst other things, he is planning to sur- vey guests to gather more detailed information about their experience of the environment. “the meadow is a small example of how we can demonstrate that in conservation and cultural terms the arduous and economically barely recognized work of shep- herds and goatherds is incredibly valuable,” says schoof. the team wants to install information boards to explain this to visitors. the pro- ject is also valuable for teaching about the environment, “our ani- mals develop relationships with people and have a calming effect, but they also differ widely in temperament.” for instance, lewi the sheep, a cuddly tearaway, likes to butt his head against people’s legs to signal that he wants to be fussed. franz the goat on the other hand prefers not to be touched – but at the same time is so curi- ous that he will nibble at anything, even yew trees which are in fact toxic to him. ideas for bringing people and animals together range from the possibility of students act- ing as temporary herders on the project for a full semester to an adventure space where children can learn about the environment. schoof and sichelschmidt relate, “the enthusiasm and the will to make the most of the potential of this project are massive for all involved.”

2

2 news unı life newspaper of the university of freiburg www.leben.uni-freiburg.de 03 2017 honor the verses, lift up your voice the new tsvetaeva (zwetajewa) center aims to present and enhance russian culture in freiburg by rimma gerenstein my verses will be like precious grapes of a fi ne vintage, their place will only be recognized in the fu- ture”. her words sound hopeful, plead- ing and a little bit defi ant. when ma- rina tsvetaeva wrote those words in may 1913, neither the 21-year-old poet nor the 20th century had suffered the devastating caesuras the future would bring. a year later, the tsarist empire began to crumble. millions died in the storm of bullets of the first world war. in 1917, the bolsheviks violently pro- claimed the ‘dictatorship of the prole- tariat’ and tsvetaeva, the daughter of a wealthy, bourgeois family became an enemy of the soviet union even as it was taking shape. she fl ed fi rst to berlin, then prague, and fi nally to paris. in 1939, she re- turned from exile with her family. her husband, sergei efron, was accused of spying and shot. her daughter, ari- adna, was thrown into prison and ma- rina’s sister anastasia ended up in a siberian labor camp. when the ger- man air force, the luftwaffe, dropped its fi rst bombs on russia in 1941, ts- vetaeva chose to take her own life. she left behind a young son and an opulent collection of poems, letters, diaries and prose. mit direktbank und bundesweitem filialnetz. uzbeks. “we would like to bring all of them in contact with each other,” says cheauré. city-university partnership the tsvetaeva center located on stadtstraße 5 is the product of a co- operation between the university and the city of freiburg. what is important to cheauré is that the center work together with the city’s cultural institu- tions. “we want to support each other and consolidate our resources,” says cheauré. the center’s offering is to expand gradually. currently, readings, concerts, lectures and language courses are on the agenda. as is a gargantuan project set to begin in the autumn: one hundred years after the russian revolution, in october and november 2017 the center will offer events almost daily for seven weeks – ranging from exhibitions on the gu- lag in the university library to con- certs featuring experimental music from the 1920s and 1930s to a street art project. the ‘place of recognition’ that the poet demanded for herself came late. only in the 1960s, when the soviet union experienced a ‘thaw’ after the death of joseph stalin, was marina tsvetaeva rehabilitated and included into the canon of russian literature. the only surviving member of the family, ariadna, published the works her mother left behind. in 1992, the marina tsvetaeva museum was opened in moscow, in the last apart- ment where the poet had lived. tsvetaeva center the tsvetaeva (zwetajewa) center for russian culture at the university of freiburg is an independent, non- profi t association that was founded at the end of 2016. the responsible bodies are the university of freiburg and the cultural affairs offi ce of the city of freiburg. the german federal cultural foundation is fi nancing the upcoming project in autumn 2017 to mark the 100th anniversary of the russian revolution. prof. dr. elisabeth cheauré is the association’s chair- woman. rector prof. dr. hans-jochen schiewer is cheauré’s deputy.  www.zwetajewa-zentrum.de “within me are many souls, but my main soul is german.” marina tsvetaeva admired the land of poets and thinkers. as a young person, she spent happy times in freiburg and the black forest. photo: marina-zwetajewa-museum mosk au for elisabeth cheauré, professor of slavic philology and gender studies at the university of freiburg, this oeuvre embodies “the spirit of a euro- pean-minded author who wanted to create bridges between cultures. while doing this she became on the one hand, highly political, yet on the other, remained deeply personal.” the new center founded in her name is to showcase russian literature, music and art, support russian artists locally, and to provide a platform for cultural ex- change. cheauré will lead the center. the researcher empha sizes that the in- stitution bears tsvetaeva’s name, “ ... particularly because she represents the close ties between freiburg and russia.” tsvetaeva spoke german during her childhood. she admired goethe and heine, and with her sister attend- ed school in freiburg for a year. she also spent some time in the black forest. cheauré refers to tsvetaeva’s famous poem an deutschland in which the author gave herself to a lost cause. in 1914 when her compatriots are consumed with ha- tred for ‘germania’ she shows soli- darity with the land of poets and thinkers, writing, “in love with you for as long as i live, i swear eternal loyalty.” “you really have to admire the amazing courage that tsvetaeva mustered,” says cheauré. “in a time filled with hate, she lifted up her voice and argued in favor of culture as a force that binds all peoples together.” the center will continue this legacy. cheauré goes on, “particularly in politically tense times, valuing culture can guard against blunt nationalism.” baden is a bastion of russian speak- ers of different ethnicities and nation- alities, she elaborates, whether ethnic germans who have only now returned from kazakhstan, lithuanian jews, ukrainians, white russians or für mich: bbbank-junges konto 1 voraussetzung: genossenschaftsanteil von 15,– euro/mitglied. kostenfreie kontoführung bis 27 jahre, danach erfolgt automatisch die umwandlung in ein gehalts-/bezügekonto. voraussetzung für eine kostenfreie kontoführung ab ausbildungsbeginn/berufsstart: eingang ausbildungsvergütung bzw. gehalt/bezüge. 2 zinssatz variabel, befristet bis zur vollendung des 27. lebensjahres; vierteljährliche zinsgutschrift ihre vorteile: • kontoführung, bankcard und depot zum nulltarif 1 • für jugendliche unter 18 jahren: bei kontoeröffnung schenken wir ihnen die mitgliedschaft in höhe von 15,– euro • verzinsung bis max. 1.000,– euro kontoguthaben2 informieren sie sich jetzt über die vielen weiteren vorteile ihres neuen kontos unter www.bbbank.de/junge-kunden university of freiburg gets top grades in the thomson reuters’ ranking of europe’s most innovative universities 2017, the university of freiburg again took fi rst place among universities in the state of baden-württemberg. the university has therefore occupied its top position in both baden-württem- berg and germany since the rankings were fi rst published in 2015. amongst the traditional, non-specialized, german universities it holds fourth place, and in a comparison of all german universities it occupies fi fth place. the che-ranking 2017/18 ranked the university’s research in the fi eld of law in fi rst place. with respect to department size, no other german university graduates more ph.d. students in law. freiburg also ranked first in terms of acquired funds per professorship in the state of baden- württemberg. vice presidents take up second term in ofﬁ ce the senate of the university of freiburg has confirmed that the two non-executive vice presidents will remain in office for a further three years. prof. dr. gisela riescher remains in charge of the areas of academic integrity, equal opportunities and diversity; prof. dr. margit zacharias will stay on as head of the department of innovation and technology transfer. both have been non-executive vice presidents of the university of freiburg since 2014. their new period in offi ce begins on 1 october 2017. riescher is planning to issue a guide on academic integrity and an information portal to provide more information and guidance. zacharias wants to expand start-up and technology transfer skills as part of a comprehensive process.

3

03 2017 news 3 unı life newspaper of the university of freiburg www.leben.uni-freiburg.de the right routes the ‘silk road’ is a romanticized view of historic trade relationships – sitta von reden explains why we need to rethink history stretching more than 10,000 kilometers – the distance from rome to the ancient chinese city of xi’an, the home of the emperor – the silk road was a network of trade routes that from ancient times linked europe with asia. freiburg ancient historian prof. dr. sitta von reden is researching the lively trade that blossomed back then be- tween the empires which had access to these routes. the aca- demic believes china’s current ini- tiative of a ‘new silk road’ is a bogus claim. verena adt spoke with her. uni’leben: ms. von reden, was there really a ‘silk road’, or is it just a european fantasy? sitta von reden: the term is an invention of ferdinand von rich- thofen. he was a german geogra- pher who in the 19th centur y re- searched the taklamakan desert in the modern xinjiang province and realized the significance of the ex- changes in this area. this led him to name the routes along which silk was found in graves and ancient way-stations the ‘silk road’. this idea was then tidied up by rich- thofen’s student, sven hedin, who between 1927 and 1935 led a major expedition in this region. this led to the ‘silk road’ becoming a romantic concept which bears no relation to historic reality. how long has trade taken place how long has trade taken place along this route? there were exchanges over great there were exchanges over great distances in the wider area of asia distances in the wider area of asia back during the persian empire and back during the persian empire and back during the persian empire and back during the persian empire and even in the bronze age. today, we even in the bronze age. today, we even in the bronze age. today, we prefer to speak of ‘silk roads’. prefer to speak of ‘silk roads’. prefer to speak of ‘silk roads’. “the idea of building up a trade route with one’s own resources and organizing it politically was totally alien to the powers of ancient times,” sitta von reden believes that china’s present-day politics are being played down in the concept of the ‘new silk road’. photo: jürgen gocke from the 1st century was in fact of- ten impor ted from egypt. but the long-distance trade with asia wasn’t just about silk but also pearls and ivory, precious perfume oils, pepper from india and spices from arabia. from india and spices from arabia. there were many local trade net- there were many local trade net- works in which luxury goods circu- works in which luxury goods circu- lated and which were not controlled lated and which were not controlled by rome. by rome. was it essentially was it essentially was it essentially a trade in luxur y a trade in luxur y a trade in luxur y goods? goods? goods? in the region of in the region of the black sea and the black sea and the black sea and around the red around the red around the red sea a lot of grain sea a lot of grain sea a lot of grain sea a lot of grain was shipped too, was shipped too, was shipped too, was shipped too, but t h a t lation were farmers, and they had little to do with trade and nothing with the elites who consumed luxury goods. they had their border con- flicts. it is said, however, that religious systems – christianity, is- lam, buddhism, manichaeism – spread along these routes. so were these people also ac- tively traveling with a missionary purpose? absolutely not! the fact that hu- mans migrated in 300 b.c. is not just due to trade. militar y move- ments are also par ticularly impor- tant in my research project. there were always troops in this region, and they were a means of intercul- tural exchange. and the population was very mobile too. nomads were not the only ones who migrated, oth- er people did too, and took their goods and their faith with goods and their faith with them. many peo- them. many peo- them. many peo- traveled traveled traveled trade the routes who never traded. ple ple ple invest much in increasing their impe- rial wealth through trade. the idea of building up a trade route with one’s own resources and organizing it politically was totally alien to the powers of ancient times. is the ‘new silk road’ a bogus political claim? the term ‘new silk road’ plays down the politics behind it. and the c oncept is unhistoric al. the new silk road t akes an entirely different route. rome isn’t included but düsseldor f is! c ontinent al european destinations were utterly irrelevant to the old trade routes. that’s what i find so annoying: few people are willing to ser iously c onsider ancient societies, their languages, ideas and physic al remains, but they are frequently picked up as a symbol for the depths that our moder n soc iet y draws from. a lot of money f lows into c ontemporar y projec ts, but then people refer without thinking to ‘ the silk road’, ‘ the c radle of europe’ or c radle of demo cracy’. ‘ the precious perfume oils, pearls, grain, spices from india and arabia: the long-distance trade with asia involved far more than just silk. photos: christan junge, shooting88, espies, svetlana kuznetsova, evgene kudryavtsev, alleba zib/all by fotolia roads, not street. the plural indicates that it was a very complex network. there was also a sea route via india, which was more important for the transport of silk than the land route. didn’t bring in the big money of course. you just have to compare the price of a barrel of grain and a small pearl. animals and slaves al- ways played a large part in the trade as well. did the silk always come from did this vigorous trade prevent china? armed conflicts? what the romans called silk and what was repeatedly listed in the descriptions of luxurious garments in ancient times, trade and politics were separate realms. eighty per cent of the ancient settled popu- the chinese the chinese the chinese the chinese g o v e r n m e n t g o v e r n m e n t g o v e r n m e n t g o v e r n m e n t has recently has recently has recently recently has a n n o u n c e d a n n o u n c e d a n n o u n c e d a n n o u n c e d that it wants to that it wants to establish a ‘new’ establish a ‘new’ silk road. what silk road. what silk road. what it it it it ‘old’ silk ‘old’ silk distinguishes distinguishes distinguishes distinguishes from the from the road? the ‘new silk road’ is a project of china alone, which aims to increase china’s influence in central asia. it will boost infrastructure and bring a lot of money to the countries, but in the end the aim is for china to gain influence there. the first area in- volved was kazakhstan in 2013. it’s now the same in pakistan. this control of trade from the center is not a historical concept. in ancient times, emperors and kings distrib- uted money in large cities to demon- strate their status, but they didn’t ‘beyond the silk road’ the european research council (erc) is funding sitta von reden’s project ‘beyond the silk road’ with an advanced grant. this award is one of the most prestigious euro- pean research awards and is endowed with eur 2.5 million. von reden and her international and interdisciplinary team are hoping to develop a comprehensive model of the exchange between empires in ancient times, and to research the relationship between economics, cultural exchange and migration as well as the significance of border regions. ten million francs in funding for center of excellence the georg h. endress foundation has pledged to provide up to 10 million francs in funding over the next ten years for the joint project “quantum science and quantum computing” at the universities of basel and freiburg. under the umbrella of eucor – the european campus, the new center of excellence will consolidate the pioneering role of the two universities in quantum physics. at the heart of the new project is an international cluster for postdoctoral researchers and two doctoral programs in basel and freiburg. the postdocs will work on joint research projects at both universities. the goal is to train outstanding doctoral candidates and postdoctoral researchers, thus preparing the future workforce for the emerging market in quantum technologies. eucor awards “seed money” with “seed money”, eucor – the european campus has created its very fi rst signifi cant own funding instrument and will award 300,000 euros annually from 2018 to 2020. the goal is to fi nance new cross-border projects that foster the development of eucor – the european campus and its scientific network. two lines of funding are planned: “research and innovation” and “teaching”. each year between five and ten projects will receive a maximum of 60,000 euros each. online applications are now being accepted via the eucor website until 2 october 2017. the financing will begin on 1 january 2018 at the earliest and runs for a maximum of 18 months.  www.eucor-uni.org/de/seed-money university election results in the university elections on 4 july 2017, enrolled students and postdocs at the university of freiburg voted for their representa- tives on the senate and faculty councils. participation in the senate elections was around eleven per cent. for the faculty councils it was approximately 6 - 23.5 per cent. from 1 october 2017 the members of the senate will be: josefine morgan from the juso university group, samuel wunderlich from the rcds & lhg list, phillip stöcks from iris kimizoglu from the bvs b list. the senate represents all areas of the university. elected members hold office for four years, while students hold office for one year. the faculty councils have similar duties and functions at faculty level as the senate for the university as a whole. five or six members are elected to each of these bodies. the bvs a list and  www.zuv.uni-freiburg.de/service/ wahlplattform/universitaetswahlen

4

4 research 03 2017 unı life newspaper of the university of freiburg www.leben.uni-freiburg.de the strength of the minority inhibiting nerve cells make up only a fraction of the human brain – but their function is far more important than previously thought by claudia füßler m arlene bartos cares about minorities: the object of her research is what are known as in- hibiting nerve cells, which make up barely ten per cent of the nerve cells in the brain. the remaining 90 per cent are excitatory nerve cells, that transmit their signals using gluta- mate, whilst inhibiting nerve cells use gamma- aminobutyric acid, or gaba for short. “until now science has mainly focused on the function of excitatory nerve cells,” says the professor, who heads a team at the institute of physiology. however research is currently undergoing a transformation: scientists are real- izing that the inhibiting nerve cells, known as interneurons, fulfill impor- tant functions. bartos and her team hope that their research will make a decisive contribution. together with scientists from kiel, berlin and austria, they are deciphering the complex role of interneurons. ner ve cells, both inhibiting and excitatory, can be found throughout the central ner vous system. they ensure that people receive informa- tion from their environment, can process, store and where necessary recall it. the activity of nerve cells, their strength and the distribution of the synapses that connect them marlene bartos compares inhibiting neurons to the conductor of a large orchestra: they set the tempo, say who plays what together with whom or who takes a break. photo: thomas kunz change over the course of your life. experts have shown that nerve cells network and intercommunicate more to encode information together. this capacity is called cellular and synaptic plasticity. it is a key mecha- nism and fundamental to the learning process, and has already been found above all in excitatory nerve cells. “we have discovered that interneu- rons are also subject to such plastic- ity,” says bartos. “they change their structure and their communication, and we believe that this capacity in- fluences the learning process.” bartos and her team are focusing on the plastic changes of inter neurons and their role in the learning process in the motor cortex and in the hippocam- pus. while the motor cortex is critical to learning new movements such as playing tennis or cycling, the hip- pocampus is responsible for storing memories. the fact that interneurons play an important part in this is evident from the function or number of inhibit- ing cells being changed in many neu- rological disorders such as schizo- phrenia or alzheimer’s, bartos explains. so how can inhibiting nerve cells help to store information in the brain? bartos compares the interneurons to the conductor of a large orchestra: they set the tone, say who plays what together with whom or who takes a break – they inhibit. if they did not do this, all nerve cells would be active simultaneously and the brain would be ineffective and occasionally even inca- pable. “the interneurons set the tempo in the brain, the share out the tasks,” explains the researcher. incoming sensory information is temporarily broken down and structured into small information pack- ages for processing, in the same way that different parts in a piece of music are in each case played together by a specific group of instruments. the task of distribution is handled by the interneurons. “it is therefore likely that changes in the function of inhibiting neurons or a reduction in their number can lead to cognitive malfunctions,” says bartos. in every learning process, information must pass through the brain many times. the strength of the synaptic connections between the ex- citatory and the inhibiting nerve cells can permanently change and increase or decrease. strengthening results in better interlinking and therefore con- solidation of memory. “it is especially reinforcing when nerve cells are active together several times,” bartos reports. and therefore the interneurons are crucial in forming memories and leaving traces of them in the brain. “there is still a lot to do,” says marlene bartos. “there is the feeling that, after a period of minimal consid- eration, inhibiting neurons are now coming to the attention of science.” and freiburg has been involved from the start. old fat increases weight gain roland schüle is seeking active substances against severe obesity – and has activated a critical gene by jürgen schickinger t he older you get, the easier it is to put on weight: fat cells change appearance and function over the course of your life. so, old fatty tissue increases the build up of subcutane- ous fat more than young. professor dr. roland schüle, the scientific director of the department of urology at the freiburg university medical center is researching the molecular back- ground of this change. he is looking for ways to treat and prevent obesity with pharmaceutical agents. now, he has succeeded in artificially activat- ing a critical gene using substances. this makes fatty tissue stay young for longer. beige becomes white young fatty tissue consists mainly of beige fat cells. “they can burn fat for heat,” says schüle. in cold weath- er beige fat cells keep the body warm. they slow down the growth of subcu- taneous fat by burning fat when there is too much available. however, as you age, more and more beige fat cells turn into white fat cells. these store fat instead of burning it. “the white fat cells in old fatty tissue are larger and continue to subdivide,” explains the biochemist. the risk of obesity is growing. schüle has shown that the level of the lsd1 enzyme is responsible for this: it falls as age fat cells change appearance and function over the course of your life – so old fatty tissue increases the build up of subcutaneous fat more than young. illustr ation: svenja kirsch increases. in parallel, beige fat cells dwindle. “lsd1 is our favorite protein,” says the head of central clinical research at the university medical center. schüle’s team discovered it twelve years ago. lsd1 works epigenetically. it activates genes by loosening their protein shell, known as chromatin. lsd1 is the start of some cell signal chains. “it has many functions in the body,” says schüle. substances that attack lsd1 disrupt many processes. so it is not well suited for therapies against obesity. more promising candidates are genes that follow lsd1 in the fat cell signaling chain – and the shells of which are loosened by lsd1. these genes fulfill fewer functions. schüle and his colleague dr. delphine duteil looked for this next link in the chain, and found the pparα protein. they were able to demonstrate that when the level of lsd1 falls, less pparα is produced. in the young, pparα specifically activates the subsequent genes in the fat cell signaling chain that counteract the conversion of fat cells. this inhibiting mechanism weakens with age. small molecules keep fatty tissue young “pparα can be easily stimulated by specific small molecules,” schüle explains. duteil administered the appropriate substances to mice with low levels of lsd1. the animals retained their beige fat cells far long- er. schüle and duteil had compen- sated for the loss of lsd1. “the activators are now in the clinical phase,” says schüle. he estimates it will still be some years before a marketable active substance that prevents fat cells from aging can be developed, “we also want to try to stimulate precursor cells into producing beige fat cells.” schüle wants to continue to research the ag- ing identify other elements of the signal chain. “it would go a lot faster if more public research funds were available,” he complains. stanford university in california re- ceives as much funding as all the universities, colleges and polytech- nics in baden-württemberg together. process and in addition, schüle wants to follow up the findings made in mice on humans. there are already a few par- allels: mice form greater quantities of beige fat cells in cold conditions. the inuit who live in the arctic cold of the north pole have more of them than spaniards or greeks. however the effect declines with age. it looks as if there is an optimal timeframe for cryotherapies, medications and other factors that influence fatty tissue. “lifestyle definitely has an influence,” says schüle. mice that eat too many calories forfeit their beige fat cells prematurely. so what is the perfect age to adjust to a sensible diet and plenty of walks the snow? fatty-tissue expert roland schüle says, “no one can be sure. but i would guess the younger the better.” it certainly can’t be a bad idea to follow this advice. in

5

03 2017 research unı life newspaper of the university of freiburg www.leben.uni-freiburg.de achieving uniform standards: martina biebert hopes her results will be incorporated in the training of dog handlers. photos: christoph breithaupt 5 german research foundation dfg supporting new research training groups find it, ﬁ nd it! sniffer dogs can detect explosive materials with great precision – and at the same time protect people’s privacy training groups the deutsche forschungs- gemeinschaft (dfg, german research foundation) has ap- proved fifteen new research training groups to further support early career researchers in ger- many. at the university of freiburg, the “meinbio – bioinme: exploration of spatio- temporal dynamics of gene regulation using high-throughput and high-resolution methods” and “statistical modeling in psychology (smip)” in which five universities are involved, have been estab- lished. they will receive around 10 million euros funding. the training group for implementing genetic into cell systems will receive around 4.8 mil- lion euros while the training group for statistical modeling of psycho- logical theories will receive around 4.9 million euros. information in by thomas goebel w hy would you have a sniffer dog at a football stadium? maybe it’s nosing around the fans and hunting for fireworks. emotion- ally-charged derbies especially are often seen as high-risk games, so organizers like to have intensive checks. but is it a good idea to use dogs in such volatile situations? for instance, how do football fans such as ultras respond to the animals? how successful are the dogs at de- tecting explosives? and what special care should the dog handlers take at work? biermann, biebert is responsible for ‘ancillary sociological research’: her colleague looks at technical resourc- es, she looks at sniffer dogs. human and dog are a team is jobs one of bieber t’s to determine the factors contributing to acceptance: what is the effect of the dogs on the people that they are supposed to be controlling? “technical research has shown that use of cer tain methods can also have unintended consequences.” for instance, use of the body scanner is ef fective, but it has given rise to resistance – many people feel it is a massive intrusion into their personal privacy. dogs can perceive even the smallest traces of scent – but we still don’t know how they do it. cultural anthropologist mar tina bieber t is interested in questions like this. she works at the centre for security and society of the univer- sity of freiburg on the evadex project, which aims to assess the many for detective explosive materials – in every area except the already strictly regulated aviation safety. together with andré systems “a dog appears to intrude on people’s privacy less,” says biebert. whilst each deployment must be considered on its own, on the whole she draws a positive conclusion, “the dog is a very well-established tactical tool for deployments.” this is not just a result of the tradition of the police dog in germany that stretches back more than one example, fear or disgust reactions during checks can be reduced if cer tain breeds and muzzles are used; also, operational processes could be more standardized, as could training and testing the dogs. in addition, the project team is undertaking fundamental research into dogs’ sense of smell, “we know that they can perceive traces of scent down to absurdly small levels – but we don’t know exactly how they do it,” says biebert. in experiments with a cooperating swiss dog team, bieber t and the scientists at the fraunhofer-institut für chemische technologie in pfinztal near karlsruhe are investigating what exactly happens when a sniffer dog is on an operation. the joint work is cultural amazing, anthropologist, “the dog is a multidisciplinary object of study.” says the junior research group receives 1.4 million euros sinc e 1 august 2017, a new junior research group headed by dr. a ndreas har tmann at the faculty of environment and natural resources has been investigating water stress in karst landsc apes wor ldwide – and how to ensure sustainable water supplies in these areas. the g er man researc h foundation is providing a total of 1.4 million euros from the emmy noether program over the next five year s. kar st for med when carbonate rock weathers. karst aq- uifers currently supply around one quar ter of the world population’s drinking water. is das volle programm für gute unterhaltung m o c . o t o h p k c o t s i : s o t o f hundred years, but also of the thousand years of shared history of humankind and dogs. both mam- mals once lived together in a kind of symbiosis, “the dog cleaned up waste, kept the herd together, warned of danger and in return was taken care of by humans.” biebert has held numerous inter- views: with police dog handlers and industry safety managers, with team leaders and private security servic- es, with ultras and with those responsible for the fans. she has accompanied a dog handler and his german shepherd dog on patrol outside an exhibition hall before an agm, and she has obser ved the bundesliga game between werder bremen and the hamburger sport- verein. whilst irritated fans are en- tirely capable of kicking a screening machine apart, ultras told her that they tended to feel sorr y for the dogs because they assumed the situation was stressful for them. great need for standardization on the other hand bieber t de- tected a certain skepticism amongst team leaders and security managers about the use of sniffer dogs: they generally felt that technical tools were more reliable or predictable – which biebert puts down partly to the individual relationship between dog handler and dog but also to the lack of uniform standards. the project also aims to contribute to developing such standards. fear of terrorist attacks has massively increased the demand for explosives sniffer dogs at major events. biebert hopes that her results will be incor- porated in the deutsche institut für normung’s revised standards for se- curity ser vice providers, “the demand is there – and there is loads of potential for standardization.” for developing therapies for older leukemia patients a new research group at the university of freiburg and the freiburg university medical center aims to conduct fundamental and clinical research into acute myeloid leukemia (aml), a type of blood can- cer diagnosed in around 3000 people a year in germany. the german re- search foundation (dfg) has agreed to provide 4.2 million euros in funding for the project over the next three years. the group spokesperson is prof. dr. michael lübbert from the department of medicine i of the medical center – university of freiburg. he will be responsible for coordinating the project together with prof. dr. christoph plass from the german cancer research center in heidelberg (dkfz). “the approval of funding for this research group is a great success and further proof of the university of freiburg’s prominence as a center for epigenetic research,” says rector prof. dr. hans-jochen schiewer. geschichten – so spannend wie das leben. für jedes alter und jeden geschmack. zum lesen, hören, sehen. und verschenken. buchhandlung rombach bertoldstraße 10 mitten in freiburg www.rombach.de lesen, was gefällt: rombach bei facebook

6

6 learning 03 2017 unı life newspaper of the university of freiburg www.leben.uni-freiburg.de jimi, jim und janis an exhibition pays homage to the spirit of woodstock by alexander ochs san francisco (be sure to wear some fl owers in your hair)’ or ‘day- dream believer’: songs that are es- sential to any fl ower-power collection. scott mckenzie’s fl oral hymn and the monkees’ hit both date back to 1967. and on june 1st that year, the beatles’ album ‘sgt. pepper’s lonely hearts club band’ was released. shortly af- ter, the monterey pop festival – seen as the musical dawn of hippie culture – took place on the west coast of the usa. next came the isle of wight, then woodstock: one festival followed another, tens of thousands swarmed to attend them. peace and love, the motto of the summer of love. “in 1967- 68, the first wave of the british invasion which had come about thanks to bands like the bea- tles, the rolling stones or the who was on the wane. new bands and artists were conquering the charts,” states dr. knut holtsträter from the center for popular culture and music (zpkm) at the university of freiburg. “scott mckenzie or the mamas and the papas appeared in the singles charts, in the usa and here too.” so what could you hear on german radio, what music was in the charts back then? “in germany ‘schlager’ music [traditional german pop music] still had the upper hand, 1967 was a great year for roy black or adamo.” udo jürgens and freddy quinn had just become stars and were collecting number one hits. and a popular custom was for german musicians to re-record english-language hits in german. rock music, frequently psychedelic in style, flooded out of the usa and into europe: from jefferson airplane through the doors fronted by jim morrison to janis joplin or jimi hen- drix. all this was made possible by technology, “the 1970s are the decade of the lp,” explains holt- sträter. “at the zpkm we have an estimated 60,000 records in every possible format. i had the idea of putting on an exhibition to show the variety of what we have and to present research issues to the pub- lic using real objects.” working together with uta-beate schroeder from the carl-schurz-haus this led to the ‘summer of love and the long german winter of listening: woodstock and vinyl’. devising the exhibition became the task of five students of the university of freiburg, guided by their tutor holtsträter. scott mckenzie, janis joplin and jimi hendrix: the summer of love exhibition displays record covers and playback devices. photo: patrick seeger 12 inches – the perfect format for one whole semester, the students rummaged around and listened to related material, did re- search on the internet and familiar- ized themselves with the old – and now once again desirable – vinyl platters. “they had to work on the objects, give brief presentations and hold discussions. this inevitably led them to reflect on their own media biography,” says the musicologist. what resulted was, in the curator’s words, ‘a broad panorama’: large album covers in 12 inch format and a few singles are shown two each in 20 frames. historic record players, magazines and books complete the exhibition line-up. themes include questions of faith such as ‘mono or stereo’, the history of technology and the reception of the music, the importance of the german market for the us music industry, and the birth of the concept album. “the tendency towards the large format was of course also expressed back then by the bands through the lp. but we also show diversions such as a musical like ‘hair’ which was a huge hit in germany, and concept albums such as ‘tommy’ by the who.” do we also get to hear any of it? “no,” responds the 44 year old with a smile, “because if we were to be historically precise we would have to play the records from the 1960s and 1970s using old record players. but then you’d only hear half of it, and it wouldn’t do the records any good. all the same, we hope that our selection of titles and covers will introduce a few catchy tunes.” so he and the team of students have succeeded in the trick of recreating the sound and the spirit of woodstock – purely visually, entirely without sound. summer of love exhibition the exhibition ‘the summer of love and the long german winter of listening: woodstock and vinyl’ runs until 8th septem- ber 2017 in the foyer of the carl-schurz-haus, eisenbahn- straße 62, 79098 freiburg. it is open monday to friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. admission is free.  www.zpkm.uni-freiburg.de mnemonics and networks start-up meditricks’ visual aides-memoires simplify learning for medical students by lars kirchberg difficult-to-learn to complicated m any medical students know the problem: an excess of terms and nnumerable similar-sounding sub- stances. what are the connec- tions, what side-effects did that medicine have again, and how can it be used effectively? using the visual aides-memoires technique of their star t-up meditricks, doc- tors dr. paul von poellnitz and dr. michael seifer t want to provide a remedy. the visual aides- memoires offer clues is- sues: carefully-drawn figures are designed to offer students an easy entry into medical terminology. the cow in the cell penicillin is shown as pens. “q fever” makes a pun on the german pronunc iation of the let ter q to show a cow in a prison cell, at the same time hinting at the fact that the disease is c aused by an intracellular pathogen. so associa- tions appear gradually, which the t wo doc tor s use to weave small stor ies with a lot of humor that explain the connections bet ween the individual figures and symbols; making associations, telling small stories: the humorous visual aides-memoires ensure that acquired knowledge can be recalled easily. source: meditricks sometimes so enter tainingly and crazily that you can’t forget it. the knowledge lear ned this way is easily recalled in an exam. many f igures also appear in other pictures and connections, increas- ing their memorability even more. “o ur aim is to c reate as many mnemonic s and net wor ks as possible,” says von poellnit z. “ especially as someone who has already followed the path of a medical student, it is lovely to see that you can inf luence something and make dr y lear ning more enjoyable.” von poellnitz and seifert hit upon the the visual aides - memoires while preparing for their idea of st ate examinations. inspired by some american forerunners, they are the first to transfer the concept to the g er man - speaking wor ld. there is now a one hundred page book on the subject of antibiotics, which arose from a year of intense wor k. von poellnit z and seifer t also of fer 70 lear ning videos in which they comment on the visual aides - memoires and put them together step by step. the t wo doctors have great plans for the future too: amongst other things, a comprehensive illustrated textbook on the subject of infectiology and interactive learning software are in the making. “our aim is to cover as many areas as possible. we still want to do a lot on pharmacology, bec ause is also impor tant for practising doctors,” says seifert. the subjec t scholarship for the founders the t wo founders have now set up a small team of doc tor s, illustrator s and it spec ialists. rec ently, the young c ompany received an exist star t-up schol- arship from the federal ministry for ec onomic af fair s and energy (bmwi), which brings with it eur 137,0 0 0. “ it ’s great when many enthusiastic and talented people come to us and say: we think that’s great, we’d like to join in,” seifer t remar ks. “ it ’s a nic e idea being able to t ake these people on permanently and continue to grow. now we have the chance with the scholarship.”  https://meditricks.de

7

03 2017 campus 7 unı life newspaper of the university of freiburg www.leben.uni-freiburg.de freedom on two wheels the team from bike bridge teaches female refugees to cycle by sarah schwarzkopf s hahrzad mohammadi had to ask one of the basketball players on the sports field at bissierstraße whether any women lived at the refugee home too. she had watched him and his friends jumping and drib- bling for some time and not seen any women anywhere. the man explained that they were in the apartments. “he told me that there were no leisure activities for women. then i had a long talk with his wife,” mohammadi, a phd student in sports science and physical education at the university of freiburg, explains. that was the birth of bike bridge. teaches bike bridge female refugees to cycle. the aim of the project is to reduce the social isola- tion of female refugees and facilitate social inclusion. “we increase their mobility and put them in contact with local women,” says mohammadi, whose dissertation looks at gender aspects of sport. following her expe- rience in the refugee home, she and her co-organizers clara speidel and lena pawelke found out that there really were no sport-related projects for female refugees. the trio wanted to fill the gap. but why specifically bicycles? “in my country the culture doesn’t al- low me to ride a bicycle,” explains a yazidi woman who prefers not to see her name in print. she has lived in ger- many for two years and learned to cycle with bike bridge. “in many islamic somalia and cameroon. the common language is german – the trainer translates if there are communication problems. the trainers include former participants. “the group can profit from their language skills and it makes the project more sustainable: we don’t just wave goodbye to the women at the end of the season,” mohammadi explains. that was the case for the yazidi woman from iraq, for example. she speaks arabic, kurdish and german, and is now helping to give her first course work- ing together with german-speaking trainers. donations for bicycles and helmets the project has already won a few national and regional awards. but the waiting list is long. and there are inquiries from hamburg, frankfurt and many other cities which would like to introduce the idea, but so far the project has lacked capacity. “we are trying to build up a good base in freiburg first,” explains mohammadi. so far bike bridge has financed bicycles, helmets and locks from donations. since they lack the equipment for bad weather the courses only take place in spring and summer. next year the team wants to offer ten courses. the latest idea is designed for advanced students: mohammadi wants to teach mothers how they can transport their children safely by bike too.  https://bikebridge.org freedom for women: bike bridge wants to strengthen the autonomy of female refugees. photo: peter herrmann countries such as iraq or syria women are forbidden from cycling,” adds mo- hammadi, “the pressure comes from society there. in iraq it is even prohibit- ed by law. in germany, however, bicy- cles are very important, particularly in freiburg.” so cycling not only offers participants mobility but also integrates them into society. “it’s given me a lot of freedom,” confi rms the yazidi woman. first walk, then pedal the project had its pilot phase in 2016 at the largest refugee home in freiburg on bissierstraße. a course with bike bridge takes three months. ten participants meet twice a week. every woman gets a tandem partner as a trainer to accompany them. the groups learn the rules of the road and how to cycle, and get language lessons. in the beginning they ride without pedaling, with the women simply pushing the bicycles with their feet to get a feel for it. they also learn how to repair the bicycles. “the participants love the repair workshop: they learn and they practice – it’s wonderful,” mohammadi says with delight. in the third month the group goes on cycle tours. how often they go and whether they go to a park or a museum is decided by each group for itself. wherever they go, the women have a picnic, chat and learn a bit about that part of town. at the end of the course they can keep their bicycle. so far there have been four cours- es in various residential homes. participants have ranged in age from 20 to 65 and come from afghanistan, pakistan, iraq, syria, iraq, nigeria, raise your horns: the horn troop practises regularly outside the herder building. photo: jürgen gocke sounding the horn students bring the sound of the wild to the former herder press building by stephanie streif i t’s a wednesday evening in may. as the evening rush hour traffic winds its weary way along the hab- sburgerstraße, sixteen hunting horn players in green polo shir ts stand on the lawn in front of the for- mer herder press building. all is peaceful. not a sound. then the order is given “raise your horns!” the horns are at and now everyone’s lips, sounding out against the engine noise and hum- ming of the tram. suddenly, it’s as if the forest is around us. founded by two students of forest sciences, the group of hunting horn players comes from the univer- sity of freiburg. one of them is val- entin platten. three and a half years ago when he came to freiburg to study, he had already decided to join the hunting horn players. he knew from his uncle, who had studied for- est sciences at the university of freiburg before him, that there had to be such a group. so platten went looking for them. and found – noth- ing. not one hunting horn player to be found far and wide. so in 2014, together with his fellow student pat- rick zaglauer, he founded a new horn player group on the spot. both believe you need a little tradi- tion. why? “it’s a little bit of history that shouldn’t be forgotten,” says platten. “without hunting horns,” zaglauer adds, “hunts could never have been organized in the past.” back then, signals such as ‘start beating’ or ‘dead pig’ were sent through the forest by horn. “there were no mobile telephones, and the hunters had to communicate with each other somehow.” one important custom was ‘sounding the kill’, when the game had been bagged at the end of the hunt and the hunters took up the horn to honor it for one last time. any time the forestry students celebrate anywhere, the horn troop are there, at christmas or summer parties for instance. last year they even played together with the dreisamtal hunting horn players at the wasserschlössle festival of freiburg’s energy supplier badenova. applause from passers-by whenever the weather allows, the hunting horn players like to take their rehearsals into the garden of the herder building. above, the foliage of beech and lime – and in front of them passers- by, who sometimes even stop, listen and applaud. to begin with it was just platten and zaglauer. but now between 15 and 20 students play with them, in- cluding three women and one non-for- estry student: leopold pfl uger is study- ing renewable energies, but he also has a hunting license. he joined the horn group because he loves ‘blaring something out together’. “young hunters playing hunting horn, that’s cool,” he says. when he joined the troop he could hardly get a sound out of his little fürst pless horn, but within just two years he worked his way up from third to second horn. but not without diffi culties: barely a year ago his neighbor rang his bell one evening and asked him to please, please stop playing, because he just couldn’t hear any improvement. pfl uger plugged on. other horn players from the group get their horns out sometimes when they are stuck in traffi c on the a5. “it’s great practising in the car,” says leonard kloos. the atmosphere is cheerful. a lot of chatter, a lot of laughter, and in the breaks between practising the odd beer is opened. now and then as the troop are standing around chatting, the warm summer evening wind blows a page of sheet music from the stands and whisks it across the grass. then there’s a merry chase after it. when classic tunes from the german repertoire such as ‘ein jäger aus kurpfalz’ or ‘auf, auf zum fröhlichen jagen’ ring out in several parts, platten and zaglauer take up the large parforce horns. compared to the fürst pless horns, they sound fuller and deeper, and both horns work entirely without valves. “the notes are made with the lips,” explains zaglauer. that’s why hunting horn players are better kissers, someone jokes. horn players are better kissers but then they get serious. “hunters’ march number three,” announces zaglauer. “keep in time, please, loud, soft, soft, loud. and ... raise your horns.” what happens next is almost instanta- neous. the players raise the horns rest- ing on their right thighs to their mouths. and then note follows note. a woman is walking along the path on the other side of the fence. she looks into the garden, raises her hand and waves. and marches off in time to the music ringing out in the summer evening. join in! anyone who would like to join in is warmly invited to play with the horn group – you don’t have to be study- ing forest sciences. a fürst pless horn is provided for a try-out.  e-mail: patrick.zaglauer@t-online.de

8

8 campus 03 2017 unı life newspaper of the university of freiburg www.leben.uni-freiburg.de “great britain, humor, rain and heart” what the game ‘concept’ reveals about people’s thoughts by sonja seidel in the “abgezockt!” series, mem- bers of the uni’leben editorial team meet with universit y of freiburg researchers to play a game. the aim is to shed light on board games from an academic perspective. or something like that. the game is ‘taboo’ for ‘concept ’ the taciturn: the teams explain terms to each other by linking up various symbolic pictures that represent individual significant aspects. is the answer an object or a person? fictional or real? big or small? the players put a marker on the right symbols. they aren’t allowed to speak. but even without words, ‘concept ’ says a lot about how people think about the world. the players prof. dr. wolfgang freitag, saliha soylu: epistemology and philosophy of science wolfgang freitag and saliha soylu try to explain a term without words. in an ideal world team mates know what they are describing and agree how to describe it. photos: patrick seeger the process judith burggrabe, rimma gerenstein: press and publicity work some things are especially important in ‘concept’: for instance, players place the markers next to the picture that fits what they are trying to describe. if you want to explain a term, you need to know it first. it’s even better if you share the same idea of what you are describing to the other players. unfortunately, in the freitag/soylu versus burggrabe/ gerenstein contest, this isn’t always the case. freitag and soylu disagree from the start. they have to explain the concept ‘yellow pages’. in front of them is a board with a lot of color- ful images organized in columns. for their f irst symbol both use a book. but what comes next? they could choose the picture ‘ear ’ or ‘mouth’. which body par t is more important when telephoning? soylu and the ear win out. “a n audio book?” gerenstein is on the wrong track. a mar ker is plac ed on the square for the c olor yellow, and one on the symbol for ‘ use’. burggrabe has got the c lue, “a telephone book is yellow. yellow pages! ” h owever freit ag hasn’t done with the question of whether telephoning is mainly about speaking or listening. “i was visual- izing an old telephone with a mouthpiece. ms soylu was thinking more of a mobile and listening.” so, ear or mouth is a generational question. gerenstein and burggrabe at tempt to do the classic 19 60s british t v series the avengers. the team opts for the image of a camera, and for one with a raincloud. soylu, “i’m singing in the rain? ” burggrabe puts down a marker on the symbol for ‘eat’. well, sometimes you’ll eat your hat. can freitag/soylu get the idea? blank faces. gerenstein summarizes the other pictures again, “great britain, humor, rain and heart.” freitag sug- gests a mills & boon author. not exactly! “charlie chaplin? ” then burggrabe intervenes, breaking the rules, “and what does chaplin wear on his head?” the point sinks in for freitag/soylu. appreciative laughter for burggrabe’s idea about the bowler. why was it so hard to guess the title? “it ’s just that our t v knowledge is limited,” opines freit- ag. “i think my knowledge in that area is excellent,” jokes soylu. “i’m just too young to know the series.” the analysis the players’ cultural background and life experiences determine their success in the hunt for points with ‘concept’. “what have i experienced, what have i read, how old am i, what region and social class am i from? all of this becomes clear whilst playing,” explains freitag. af ter playing a few rounds it’s clear: to collect points you need to be familiar with pop culture and watch a lot of films. freitag thinks this is a short- coming, “the game is naturally tai- lored to its market. i would find it more exciting and challenging if the players also had to explain more abstract concepts.” but the game does offer one other insight – that is, that modern people think in parallel. quite unlike earlier times. “if we had played ‘concept’ with the ancient greeks the board would have looked quite different. the ancient greeks thought hierarchically. they would have organized the individual associa- tions of a term systematically and not just placed them side by side on a par.” but can people make themselves understood only using such images – a sort of visual esperanto? “i don’t think it would work. we had to talk a lot and give tips to explain the terms,” soylu remarks. freitag adds, “human thought is far too complex to communicate just using images.” so we can’t really do without words. „concept“, repos production/asmodee www.asmodee.de study health promotion while working for all those who have a bachelor’s degree or professional training in the field of health promo- tion, preventive medicine, or rehabilitation, and would like to obtain a further qualification in the field, there is a new course on offer. star ting winter semester 2017-18 fur t wangen universit y and the universit y of freiburg will teach interdisciplinary health promotion in a joint program. it culminates in a master of science degree. its special feature is that participants can take the full master’s program – or individual modules from it. they can also choose the speed and intensit y of studies which suits them. advanced museum a paper-and-cardboard freiburg studies for professionals overseeing, collecting, exhibiting, teaching, marketing, managing and digitizing: “museon – weiterbildung & netzwerk” (museon – advanced training & network) has developed an advanced learning module for each of these areas of a museum. having completed a one- year test phase, starting in the winter semester 2017/2018 it will become a regular course of study with 26 courses that are categorized according to each module. the advanced training is designed for professionals working in museums or in the area of exhibits and collections who wish to professionalize their work and expand their skill sets. it is also designed for people who would like to respond to the changing external and societal circumstances and cultural diversity or to the structural impact digi- tization is having in order to further develop their abilities in the workplace. the old town of freiburg – with the synagogue, theater, st. mar tin’s gate, the old university, and collegiate building iv – which was then the university library – in a kind of 3d snapshot from 1920: this 1:275cm scale model, constructed of painted paper and cardboard, is now on display as part of the permanent exhibition at the university of freiburg’s uniseum. model maker fabian maier used city maps, postcards, and photographs in books and the badische zeitung newspaper to create the image. he modeled the buildings in ever y possible historical detail in an area of approximately 1.3 by 1.8 meters. fabian maier, born in freiburg in 1991, has been building models as a hobby for 20 years. his latest project is an eif fel tower made of match- sticks.  www.museon.uni-freiburg.de  www.uniseum.uni-freiburg.de approximately 1.3 by 1.8 meters: fabian maier used city maps, postcards and photo- graphs from books and the badische zeitung newspaper to create the model. photo: ma x orlich  www.igf-studium.de

9

03 2017 campus 9 unı life newspaper of the university of freiburg www.leben.uni-freiburg.de mangold’s a veg a visit to the münstermarkt farmers’ market becomes a german lesson for foreign students by alexander ochs t he colorful stems with the large leaves radiate canary yellow, crimson and ruby. “what’s that?” asks one of the group, who comes from india. “mangold!” replies the ven- dor. “mango?” they echo. “nowt like! mango’s fruit, ‘at’s a veg!” declares the expert. a typical scene for this morning, which recalls the ‘learning by doing’ method. you learn what you are doing by doing it. the ‘walking dialogues’ are very similar: foreign students go out and experience real life with their german tutors, in order to test out their language skills in eve- ryday scenarios. no dry exercises, no fake situations, no rote learning. the idea for this german lesson came from yani guo from the studier- endenwerk freiburg-schwarzwald and team members katharina knop, nicole nicklas and marielle raih, all students with a background in teach- ing. before each upcoming session they simply provide the participants with appropriate vocabulary in a classic lesson, to prepare them for the language café walkabout. vocabulary training on the hoof today, a hectic saturday in july, a freiburg classic is on the schedule: shopping at the münsterplatz farmers’ market. “we’ll go around the market once,” nicklas explains the procedure. “and then we’ll have a bratwurst or – for the vegetarians – tofu.” “you have tofu here?” asks yang peng, a twen- ty-one year old from china. “can you barbeque tofu?” peals of laughter. “well, that’s what the germans are always doing,” yang persists. and mandarin. however guo from the studierendenwerk cheerfully reminds his compatriot, “in german!” but when things get too difficult in german, the three indians, paul, jijo and raghu and jibran from pakistan can switch to their mother tongues. “hindi and urdu are similar, but only when speaking,” explains jibran. the four young men from south asia cook almost daily, and therefore are very familiar with foods and their prepara- tion. gradually, people get hungry. time for a snack. one tries a ‘lange rote’, the traditional freiburg wurst, another a veal sausage. raghu, whose name is pronounced like ‘ra- gout’ in french, has found a vegetar- ian snack: tofu dressed as bratwurst. with a lot of yellowy-orange gleaming spices. “aaah!” he cries out when he tries it, “very hot!” “really?” the group responds, surprised. “no,” he plays it down with a smile. he was just imitat- ing the typical german reaction to spicy food of course. everyone laughs. and all look forward to the next session; regular events begin again in the 2017/18 winter semester. radishes, raspberries, savoy cabbage: it’s easier to pick up vocabulary in real life than in a lesson. photo: jürgen gocke straight away we have come to a socio-cultural question. germany, country of eternal barbecuers? nicole – everyone is on first name terms here – meanwhile presses on blithely, pointing out gooseberries, rhubarb, blackcurrant. jijo george and swertin paul are it students from india, and have been in freiburg since autumn 2016. on the tour, they try things out and explain things alternately. grab a bite to eat at the baker’s stall, then to the cheese stall. “my housemate always eats blue cheese,” george repor ts in still halting german on his ever yday life. talking about dair y produce at a cake stall nick- las explains, “sour cream, that’s a kind of cream. sow-er cream,” she pronounces carefully and deliber- ately. peng repeats after her, “sow ... sow cream.” he has lived in freiburg for almost four years, and as a philosopher he is ver y highly skilled in the f ield of languages (heidegger !). as they pass the stalls selling lettuce and other salad vegetables, nicklas explains the expression ‘da hast du den salat!’ – ‘what did i tell you?’ this makes peng think of something: “ kabel- salat!” – cable spaghetti. however he didn’t learn it on the german course but on the internet. tofu dressed as bratwurst the summery range on offer at the market bewitches the senses. rad- ishes are a welcoming deep red, eve- rywhere berries beckon in shades of red, pink, purple and blue, the cour- gettes glow yellow. yellow cour- gettes? “normally they’re always green,” says one. his gaze falls on a box of plump cherries. “i first ate cherries in germany,” says peng, “we don’t have them at home.” “we do,” responds guo. both can talk in walking dialogues gathering language practice in every- day life – whether on a cycle tour, visit- ing the mundenhof zoo or at the freiburg museums night: this is the idea of the walking dialogues, an event organized by the studierenden- werk freiburg-schwarzwald. between semesters they take place about once a month. the free offer is designed for students at freiburg’s universities and colleges. please register if you are in- terested. e-mail: guo@swfr.de.  www.swfr.de w i n a vo u c h e r ! uni’cum stationery, bibs, rubber ducks: the university of freiburg’s uni’shop supplies a wide range of goods not just for everyday life on campus but also for every other kind of situation. in this series, uni’life presents a few of its products and there is a prize draw for coupons. enjoy substance with style by martin jost w e’re simply saying: avolatte. it’s a latte macchiato served in half a scooped-out avocado. there are already 700 pictures of avolattes on instagram. but that still does not make it a trend that will revolutionize the world just yet. however avolatte is what we might be faced with if we don’t soon stop polluting the world with paper cups. or else we might have to sip our coffee from an oily fruit husk. we don’t want to put anyone off their cof fee on the way to the lec- ture, or even during the lecture. and it’s impossible to meet the demands of student or academic life without caffeine today anyway. (rumors that the bologna process was a triumph for the cof fee lobby are however excessive and unsubstantiated.) fortunately it is extremely easy to sipping coffee from avocado hulls is a fleeting pleasure. but the cups and thermos beakers from the uni’shop are forever. photo: jürgen gocke enjoy a coffee while out and about or during a lecture: just keep a thermos beaker in your bag at all times. we won’t lie about it, we think the university of freiburg’s coffee cup range is very chic. you can buy por- celain cups or thermos beakers with the logo at the uni’shop – and they are designed to last. insulating to keep hot presenting the freiburg uni thermos beaker in a new design and new quality. it is snowy white with choice of blue or red detailing and a printed logo. the inside of the new model has a double-wall in stainless steel, to keep contents hot for a very long time. the silhouette is clean and ergonomic. you can open and close the sipper with just one hand using the button on the lid. when the sipper is closed, the cup is absolutely leak-tight, so it could fall over in your bag without soaking your books and laptop. if you are an old-school consumer and like to take time for your dose of caffeine at the kitchen table or desk instead of drinking on the go, the uni’shop also has something for you: porcelain cups in two dif ferent styles. the slightly larger cup is shaped roughly like a tumbler and has a capacity of 300 ml, while the slimmer cup with a triangular handle holds 250 ml and is white on the outside with a choice of red or blue inside. all the porcelain cups feature the emblem of the university printed on the outside. so, enjoy your coffee either sitting comfortably or to go when you like. but please invest in a sustainable cup – and give the avocado goblet a miss this time. competition! win one of two 25 euro coupons for the uni’shop. send an e-mail to unileben@pr.uni-freiburg.de by 8th september 2017. the coupon winners will be drawn from all the entries received.  www.shop.uni-freiburg.de

10

10 compass unı life newspaper of the university of freiburg www.leben.uni-freiburg.de oh no, he’s calling again! how employees can cope with constant availability – and how companies can improve the situation having work contact you at all hours, having to adapt ever faster to changing demands: it ’s no surprise that mental illness is now one of the commonest caus- es of absence from wor k. but there are things that can be done about it. anita rüffer spoke to the freiburg business psychologists dr. nina pauls and dr. christian schlett. together with colleagues from other universities they have carried out two research projects to develop tools to promote men- tal resilience, and working with companies have trialed new approaches for dealing with constant availability. uni’leben: mr schlet t , do you leave your mobile telephone of f when you are on holiday or at weekends? christian schlet t: my private mobile isn’t even set up to receive work e-mails. why is it impor tant to be un- available to your employer in your free time? nina pauls: we know from our research that if you don’t it can be- come dif ficult to switch of f and separate work from private life. schlett: if i were always on call and wondering if someone was go- ing to ring or if an e-mail was coming, i would find it harder to re- lax in my free time. as a result i wouldn’t rest as well and be able to recover from work. so i’d be neither here or there. kind of cowed anticipation? pauls: an employer doesn’t and shouldn’t expect this. but depending on the corporate culture such feel- ings may be encouraged. one’s own performance standards also play a part: you want to do good work so you continue working at home if you don’t manage it all during regular working hours. it’s often a sign of overload. but aren’t there also advantag- es in freely arranging your time between work and private life? schlett: only if i decide for myself. if i’m always being driven by my work, the result can be stress, burn- out and physical problems such as sleeplessness. maybe some people are afraid of remain perpetually set to receive in a losing out and what practical solutions have you come up with? t i m e s you have to assume that it’s really to assume that it’s really important and call back. important and call back. ca n indivi du al e m - ca n indivi du al e m - p loye e s al so a r m p loye e s al so a r m t h e m selve s b et t e r t h e m selve s b et t e r m ent ally ag ain st ove r- m ent ally ag ain st ove r- demanding work conditions? demanding work conditions? pauls: working with selected companies, we developed rules for how employees can divide up work and leisure better. before new projects are started, for instance, a company looks to see whether it has any capacity for them, so that no one is forced to take work home with them. schlett: our studies have shown that t wo -thirds of employees are uncer tain whether they have to respond to work inquiries in their free time, and how rapidly. we worked on clarifying these expecta- tions: if something is really urgent, a text message can be sent asking for them to read an impor tant e - mail. and if someone has tried to reach an employee three pauls: yes! in cooperation with the freiburg sof t ware company haufe-lexware we have developed web-based training that reinforces mental resilience. thi s ‘re sili enc e’ i sn’ t innat e, then – you can practice it? schlett: there are basic tenden- cies, but there are aspects that can be trained effectively with regard to work. such as? paul s: anyone who is of ten distracted and absent- minded at work and therefore unable to deal with really impor tant things can benefit from mindfulness training. with guided exercises in focusing nina pauls and christian schlett are trying out new approaches to dealing with constant availability. photo: patrcik seeger 03 2017 a i l o t o f / k c o r u m i t : o t o h p on our internet plat- on our internet plat- form, people learn form, people learn to notice when to notice when their mind star ts their mind star ts to wander. con- to wander. con- scious perception scious perception enables a con- enables a con- scious decision: scious decision: to stop wandering to stop wandering of f the point and of f the point and focus on the sub- focus on the sub- stance. stance. schlett: or take schlett: a customer adviser a customer adviser who is faced with who is faced with a n u n p l e a s a nt a n u n p l e a s a nt conver sation with a conver sation with a dissatisfied customer. dissatisfied customer. instead of losing heart, instead of losing heart, he could remind himself he could remind himself of his strengths and recall of his strengths and recall similar situations that he has similar situations that he has dealt with successfully. this dealt with successfully. this strengthens his self-belief. then there is also posture: anyone who attends an inter view with bowed shoulders has less chance than someone who approaches the op- posite party in an open and upright way. keeping employees fit so that they are capable of greater wor kloads – can employers misuse this sometimes? pauls: training isn’t an isolated measure but par t of operational health management. this also in- cludes courses on healthy leader- ship.  www.resilire.de exercise at your desk sitting motionless, eyes fi xed on the screen: often students and offi ce workers will stay put like this for hours. and then as deadlines and exams get ever closer, there’s no chance at all for relaxation. no surprise then that as time passes this frequently leads to backache, stiff neck, headaches or just plain discomfort because of a sluggish circulation. but it isn’t really that hard to gain relief. in this series, staff from the fitness & health center at the university of freiburg describe exercises that are easy to do at the desk at any time. are you sitting comfortably? strengthening the back muscles by petra völzing sitting for hours at a desk is no good either for your musculo- skeletal system or for your circula- tion. in the long term you become tired and listless. your back aches and your feet grow cold. it’s no crime to stand up from your office chair now and then. and if you want to do something really good for part of your body, we recommend this dynamic exercise which strengthens the musculature of your lower back to your thighs and reinvigorates you for a period of sitting. it makes use of the buttock muscles, the rear of your thighs and the lower back. a a leg up: this exercise strengthens the back muscles and r efreshes you when you are sitting. photos: klaus polkowski get moving! if you want to get some exercise, contact the fitness & health center or ask pausenexpress about booking regular exercise appointments in your offi ce.  www.fgz.uni-freiburg.de www.gesunde.uni-freiburg.de/angebote/ projekte/pausenexpress nice side effect is that the hip flexor which is always shortened while sit- ting is thoroughly stretched. to do this exercise, stand up and lay your forearms on the desktop. slightly bend one leg and push it back and upwards. take care to keep your hips level and not to twist. while doing the exercise you can keep the leg you are standing on straight or bend it slightly too – whatever suits your own flexibility. repeat this exercise with both legs 15 to 20 times each. try to keep the movement as steady and smooth as possible throughout.

11

03 2017 compass 11 unı life newspaper of the university of freiburg www.leben.uni-freiburg.de knowledge breeds trust long the german u15, a group of fifteen universities with a wide spectrum of subjects, traditions, major medical schools, and world class re- search, has published a magazine, wissen schafft vertrauen. “the humanities and social sciences and cultural disciplines are highly valued in germany. they enable people to critically interpret the world and the changes in it, and to position them- selves in it. in this way, they create social resistance to dangerous oversimplifications – as well as faith in the future of our society; particu- larly in the face of rising challenges from strengthening nationalism, from climate change, terrorism, even inte- gration,” says professor hans-jochen schiewer, university of freiburg rector and chair of the german u15. fifteen including freiburg historian ulrich herbert, hope their contributions to the maga- zine will stimulate a reasoned and constructive debate. researchers, dressed as a witch the biologist henriette gruber shows a tour group of the botanic garden the benefi ts to health that can be obtained from blossoms and leaves. photo: patrick seeger  www.german-u15.de/epaper-wissen- schafft-vertrauen/index.html good spirits clad in green a guided tour of the botanic garden through magic, myth and medicine by sonja seidel the towards a blazing hot afternoon at the botanic garden of the uni- versity of freiburg. a crooked old dame stands beneath a birch tree, a black scar f over her head. turning her besom she pokes the stick elderly man standing before her. “the birch emanates a power ful magic, a pro- tective magic,” she whispers and looks with narrowed eyes at the group. a brief silence, then a grin passes over the faces of everyone present. the old dame straightens up, removes her headscar f, reveal- ing the dyed red hair of dr. henri- ette gruber, a young woman in a silky summer dress. she laughs hear tily and explains in practiced tones, “the birch had a spiritual significance back in germanic mythology. but you can drink a tea of birch leaves or birch juice as an excellent treatment for cellulite and swollen legs.” nor thern germany. “so, what can you taste? ” the group sips at the drink thoughtfully. an elderly lady wear ing a pink blouse, str ing of pear ls and summer hat pipes up, “it smells and tastes of elderflower.” the others agree. “that’s right, you can’t mistake the fragrance of el- der f lower – it ’s almost indecent,” oil. its ef fect was long known be - fore people spoke of witches and wizards. but be c areful! never drink too much sage tea, because if you do thujone has a toxic effect.” “ so how many cups a day are okay?” asks a middle-aged man in beige trekking shor ts wor r iedly. “ well, three or four cups, but not delicate yellow, sweet and fragrant: a drink of elderfl ower and lemon balm tickles the taste buds of participants. a group of thir teen freiburgers has gathered under the leadership of the biologist for the ‘ witc hes, ghosts and genetics’ guided tour on medicinal plants and science. these guided tours of the botanic garden are a tradition and have been offered by the association of friends and sponsors of the botan- ic garden of the univer sit y of freiburg for more than ten years now. up to four times a semester, biologists roam the grounds and glasshouses with guests. for gruber it’s her premiere: in real life she is a tutor at the freiburg uni- versity of education, but today she is playing the par t of the wise woman. taste, smell, feel gruber pours a delic ate yellow liquid from a stone jug into plastic cups and hands it round. a n old recipe of her grandmother’s, from says gruber, going on to tell them a lot more about the plant. as she does so, she adopts the role of the foreteller of doom, “ the elder is one of the most magical plants. it is inhabited by good spir its. but never hang a branch of elder above a child’s cot, or the fairies will get it.” h ow ser ious g r uber is with such practical tips is hard to say. m edic ine and magic are ver y closely related. take the elder: it is diaphoretic – it induces sweating – and strengthens the immune system. “ but that hasn’t been scientifically proven,” adds gruber. to the group proc eeds the sensor y garden, where oregano, bay and sage give of f a beguiling sc ent. bees are restor ing them - selves from the purple and white blossoms. the participants feel the furry leaves of sage and then smell their hands. “it ’s great for sweaty feet,” explains the biologist. “that’s the result of thujone, an essential more,” says the exper t. at least one par tic ipant looks likely to switch to chamomile now. mind- expanding and delicious another herb that can be found in ever y kitc hen cupboard has unimagined powers, “bay is mind- expanding, but only if you burn it, not if you stir it in your spaghet ti sauc e,” g r uber repor ts. “ the priestesses of the oracle in delphi slept on laurel leaves and inhaled the smoke from bur ning bay and laurel, to foretell the future.” the 21st century priestess also uses it, not least to enc hant her sweet- hear t. yarrow on the other hand is a rather boring plant from a witch’s point of view. it can be found in the botanic garden in one of the eight round themed plots that are organ- ized by region and period. “yarrow has no spec ial magic al power s,” says gruber, starting to move on to the next plant. but an elderly man from the group c ontradic ts her, “until the 20th century they used to hang yarrow in the window in the forests of bavar ia, to keep the plague from the house.” konrad müller is an exper t on the plague and has already wr it ten many books on the black death. he knows enough to give at least one guided tour of the botanic garden. to c onc lude the tour g r uber wants to cast a spell herself, and so she has brought a blend of herbs with her that are traditionally burned at midsummer in mid-june. the longest day of the year is a mystical date which was celebrated with feasts by the germans and the celts. gruber burns oak bark, sage, mugwor t, f leabane, frankincense and myrrh in a small metal bowl, a blend that is supposed to capture the energy of the sun and at tune one to the second half of the year. in addition, the dried leaves and crumbs of resin protect travelers from impending disaster. “ this passes the energy of the herbs to us,” explains gruber, fanning the rising column of smoke towards the group which stands there snif fing it, and promises, “ today you go home pur if ied and with the maximum of protection.” discover the botanic garden there is an autumn walk with head gardener dirk rohleder at the botanic garden on 23rd september 2017. meet at the main entrance of the botanic garden, schänzlestraße 1, 79104 freiburg, at 2 p.m. admission costs eur 3.00. children and teenagers aged up to 16 can take part free of charge. no need to register.  www.botanischer-garten.uni-freiburg.de/ freunde-und-foerderer neues karriereportal alles auf einen klick: die universität freiburg hat mit dem karriereportal einen neuen service eingerichtet, der mitarbeiterinnen und mitarbeiter über weiterbildungs- und beratungsange- bote, förderprogramme sowie maßnahmen der personalentwicklung informiert. das portal richtet sich an beschäftigte aus wissenschaft sowie verwaltung, service und technik auf allen karrierestufen. interessierte fi n- den in einer stellenbörse zudem alle offenen positionen an der universität. das portal ist in einer zusammen- arbeit der stabsstelle strategie und hochschulentwicklung, den freiburg research services, dem wissens- management und der im januar 2017 eingerichteten geschäftsstelle person- alentwicklung entstanden. die abteilungen werden künftig das ange- bot des karriereportals weiter ausbau- en.  www.uni-freiburg.de/karriere successfully applying for dfg grants what are the keys to a successful application to the german research foundation (dfg)? what do evalua- tors rate particularly highly? these and other questions on the topic “applying successfully for dfg funding” (“erfolgreich dfg-mittel einwerben”) are the focus of a panel discussion. prof. dr. annegret wilde, the dfg liaison officer at the university of freiburg, and the science support centre of freiburg research services are issuing an invitation to the event. the dfg liaison officer will be joined on the panel by dfg colleagues, a member of the dfg’s approval committee and the senate committee on research training groups and the group leader of dfg’s emmy noether program. there will be a q&a and discussion at the end. the event takes place on 10 october 2017, 2 p.m. in biology i lecture theater, hauptstraße 1, 79104 freiburg, and is open to researchers of all disciplines. please to kurs programm@frs.uni-freiburg.de by 15 september 2017. register by email

12

12 people 03 2017 unı life newspaper of the university of freiburg www.leben.uni-freiburg.de feedback after 100 days petra engelbracht is developing a personnel development concept for the university of freiburg by rimma gerenstein i f you run until your legs smart and your arms feel limp, you still should never be so out of breath that you’re unable to speak. mute sweating should only happen when you sprint. if you want to make progress, you breathe and you talk. how are the children? where are you going on hol- iday this year? have you read the new thriller by jussi adler-olson? petra engelbracht has put on her trainers many times for half-marathons with her running team of sixty – in leipzig and in remich, luxembourg. sports lore has already helped the 52 year old to reach the finishing line after 21 kilometers. the economics graduate also uses it in her job. this year she has to manage a mammoth task at the university of freiburg: to create a personnel development con- cept for all 2,000 employees from administration, service and technol- ogy – from the caretaker to the de- partment heads. “you need stamina for this job,” laughs engelbracht. “you have to keep making a fresh attempt, adjust your pace and always communicate.” four stages since arriving in freiburg in early 2017 she has not stopped communi- cating: engelbracht buzzes from department to department, talking to the management and staff about workplace conditions, organization, their wishes and difficulties. the final goal is an understanding that brings inspiration from the art nouveau palace: when petra engelbracht needs to come up with new ideas, she sits on a bench in the colombipark. photo: klaus polkowski together all the information and measures and integrates them into the four professional work stages of recruitment, integration, develop- ment/retention and retirement/dis- charge. the area of management and strategy is also covered. however the concept is just one element: together with its equivalent on the academic side, it will form the personnel development concept for the entire university. engelbracht is highly qualified in this area. over the past fifteen years she established personnel develop- ment at the university of trier. “to begin with there was just one page of a4 with six cpd events. that was it,” she recalls. engelbracht upped the pace, expanded cpd, developed training courses for management, carried out and assessed staff sur- veys and gained first-ever “family-friendly university audit” cer- tificate nationally for the university of trier. the but the recipe for successful personnel development can’t simply be transferred from one campus to another. the university of trier, a spring chicken from the 1970s, has about 14,000 students and 1,200 staff. “it’s a considerable bit smaller.” but in fact engelbracht finds the size and variety of the freiburg super- tanker exciting. she has a free hand, like an architect planning a building floor by floor, “there are many excellent provisions and measures here already, but so far there’s no overall concept.” she was surprised to find this was the case at such a highly-regarded university. so it was time to turn up the pressure. parti- cularly with the upcoming excellence competition. a warm welcome and a hot goulash engelbracht called the assessment she gave to the staff meeting in july her “100 day feedback”. she used it to set out the strengths of the university, but also suggestions for development. in her expert view, there are opportunities when employees leave – the motto is “securing knowledge” – for individual career planning, for selection of all the world’s a stage freiburg literature scholar simon sahner is an actor, poetry-slammer and author fear and euphoria at the same time: simon sahner says that the feeling of being on stage is incomparable. photo: jonas sahner personnel and for communications. “for instance, there is a mission statement of the central university administration, but there’s almost no sign of it in the building itself.” why not put up a poster in the conference rooms? “you can waste a lot of time with that,” she says with the look of a taciturn northerner in response to a chatty southerner. “it doesn’t hurt to remind people now and then about their institution.” the values of the however engelbracht doesn’t cavil with her praise: she is very enthusiastic about training and cpd opportunities and highlights the univer- sity’s family friendliness. and one special strength struck her: the appreciative and welcoming culture. “i have been received openly and warmly everywhere.” even before she moved to freiburg she was invited over to dine by a couple of groups of colleagues. there was goulash soup, and in the evening she signed the lease for her new apartment. gradually engelbracht is getting to know her new territory – and she gets around: the freiburg campus takes her all round the city. and if she needs to come up with new ideas she sits for half an hour on a bench in the colombipark. it doesn’t bother her if the building site in front is busy – the view of the art nouveau palace takes her far away from the noise. in her spare time she trains for her next half marathon: in october 2017 she and her running group will be meeting in amsterdam, the netherlands. until now engelbracht has trained on her own in the south. “but i’m sure i’ll soon find companions.” and the motto will be: breathe and talk, talk and breathe. it again. and, responses from the audience bring out huge feelings of joy.” anyone who has stood on a stage wants to do for sahner, producing art means knowing one- self better and testing one’s limits. at a poetr y slam, for instance, he doesn’t play a fictional character but just stands there on stage as him- self. “i pick out individual aspects that i refine and exaggerate, but basically it’s still me.” this is a vul- nerable thing to do, and it doesn’t always attract a positive reaction – but that isn’t just okay, it can even increase self- confidence, “once you’ve made a complete fool of your- self in front of 200 people then you know that you can manage to give a lecture at a conference.” anything, so long as it’s not boring sahner would like to continue to go on stage regularly in future too. every new theater production gives rise to such tension and dynamism that it is never boring. however he will be cutting back on the poetry slams, “i’m lacking ideas for the poems. anyway, it’s time for something new.” his next project is the literature podcast “buchdruck – literatur in der mangel”, which starts in autumn 2017. by julia dannehl w hen you stand on a stage to show people the best you can do, it’s always got a bit of narcissism about it,” says simon sahner. he has no problem admitting to the desire to present himself and receive af- firmation, or with talking about the fact that he has a stammer. to him, it is all a part of what makes him the person he is. the 27 year old regularly goes on stage: in the university theater, at poetr y slams and with ‘laut und lyrik’, the spoken theater group of the depar tment of german at the university of freiburg. he is study- ing for a postdoc at the ‘factual and fictional narration’ graduate school on the subject of the beat and underground literature of 1960 to 1990. he also writes short stories, spoken word pieces and sometimes musical pieces. his activities on the stage give him a welcome break from academic work, “at a poetr y slam is of enormous impor tance. even the best texts don’t work if they are presented badly. so – unlike at the university – rhythm and sound are of ten more impor tant to me here than linguistic nuances.” per formance the as a teenager he was convinced that he would be a great writer one day. since he wanted to write important novels, true to style he bought himself a typewriter. after leaving school, he liked to sit with an intense look on his face in cafes, writ- ing down his thoughts in notebooks. today he laughs about it, “eventually i realized that i was just playing the part of the great artist for myself. just how i imagined creative people to be back then.” he has long since given up trying to act out any cliches, and no longer takes himself so seriously, allowing his creativity to be guided more by enjoyment than dreams of success. simply audition stage plays always interested him, even at school. so one day he tried it out – things went well and he enjoyed it a lot. looking back, he says that stammering never stopped him doing anything. if he hadn’t got stuck on consonants now and then, he wouldn’t be the person he is today. for instance, he joined ‘laut und lyrik’ because he did speech therapy with the leader of the group, wilfried vogel, who invited him to audition. that was back in 2011. sahner is still a part of the group. “articulation and breath play a major part in our appearances,” he explains. many of the exercises have helped him in day to day life too. “the feeling of standing on stage is a mixture of fear and euphoria which nothing else brings. on the one hand there is the tension: you know there’s no going back, that nothing can be allowed to go wrong. at the same time you enjoy showing what you have prepared and positive  http://buchdruck.podspot.de

13

03 2017 personnel 13 unı life newspaper of the university of freiburg www.leben.uni-freiburg.de awards measurements the winners of the f irst phase of the st ar tinsland business plan c ompetition have been named: b e n j a m i n b a u m a n n, m a t h i a s k l e n n e r, b e r n h a r d s c h ö n e and ch r i s t i a n z e c h won the ‘innova - tions from scienc e and universi - ties’ c ategor y with their projec t ‘ondosense’. they are developing an innovative intelligent sensor for t aking in environments where optic al or acoustic sensors are imprecise or fail c ompletely. first prize in the c ategor y ‘innovations from busi - ness and society’ went to jerome m e i n ke, lilian ret tegi and dr. lu k a s s p o h n for their ‘cline x ’ business concept, an app for digi- tal documentation of physical ex- aminations. the special prize for ‘g reen ec onomy ’ went to m a r c o armbruster and benedik t hauer. as ‘arbeitsgruppe biomasse’ they aim to of fer advic e, laborator y analyses and automated fermenta- tion test stands with appropriate software to operators of biogas fa- c ilities. e s t h e r a r r oyo g a r c i a, fr e d e r i k b ö h m and ch r i s t i a n hir t h impressed with their ‘deep - va’ (deep v ideo a nalysis) business concept, taking the ‘digi- tal future’ special prize. the sys- tem c an automatic ally ex trac t various features from videos, gen- erate metadata and classif y and desc r ibe the video using this content. mater ials exper t dr. h a t e m a b u s h a m m a l a who was super- vised by the professor of forest biomater ials has rec eived the ecology prize from the sigrid-und- viktor- dulger- stif tung for his the - sis. this looked at how nanotech- nology can enrich traditional wood science. the ecology prize is en- dowed with eur 6,0 0 0 and was presented at the heidelberg acad- emy of sciences and humanities. it is awarded annually for a work in the f ields of humanities, soc ial sciences and science or engineer- ing that aims to resolve environ - mental problems. suppor ts the biologist dr. milena ber tolotti from the univer sit à v it a - salute san raf faele in milan, italy, has rec eived the humboldt research scholarship from the alexander von humboldt foundation for post- doc s. with its sc holar ship, the foundation highly qualified scientists from abroad at the star t of their career. ber tolotti will be using a new method to investigate the localization and in- terac tion of rec eptor s on b - lym - phocytes and b-tumor cells on the nanometer scale at the university of freiburg. she is hosted by prof. dr. michael reth from the institute of biology iii, bioss c entre for biological signalling studies, and the max planck institute of immu- nobiology epigenetic s, freiburg. and the univer sit y of freiburg has conferred the university medal on kar in endress and margot sel z. endress, president of the founda- tion board of the georg h. endress foundation, received the university medal for the foundation’s ex ten- sive suppor t of the tec hnic al faculty, freiburg sustainability re- search, and the european campus. selz, the initiator and chair of the a k tionskreis freiburger sc hule – initiative für ordnungspolitik e.v., was given the distinction for her lasting the public disc our se about fundament al is - sues of a social market economy in dialogue with the univer sit y of freiburg. impac t on dr. karim mohamed gad from the institute of microsystems engineer- ing rec eived the südwestmet all incentive award for his dissertation which looks at the use of functional nano-layers in silicon solar panels. the inc entive award honor s out- standing achievements by junior researchers at the nine universities in the federal st ate of baden - wür t temberg. the award br ings with it eur 5,0 0 0 for wor k of significance to the industrial world of work or its socio-political frame- work. gad researched how dif fer- ent nano - layer s c an be used to produc e hetero - c ont ac ts on the basis of silic on crystals. passivated the neurobiologist prof. dr. carola h a a s has rec eived the a lfred hauptmann prize. the prize for the best scientific work in clinical and exper iment al epileptology in german-speaking countries, which br ings with it eur 10,0 0 0, is awarded ever y t wo year s. haas was honored for a study c ar r ied out in 2016. in it, she examined development al disorder s of the human temporal lobes that fre - quently occur in conjunction with medic ation - resist ant epilepsy. haas shares the prize money with a swiss research team, including assoc iate professor dr. g i a n m a rco d e m a rchi s of the univer- sitätsspital basel and dr. deborah pu g i n of the h ôpit aux univer si - taires de genève. mic robiology the internist and senior physician in the department of infectiology at the university medical center, prof. dr. winfried kern, has been hon- ored by the european societ y of clinic al and infectious diseases (escmid) for his researc h wor k and c ontr ibu - tions to society by being named an honorar y member of escmid, the european soc iet y for clinic al mic robiology infec tious diseases. ker n has been on the board of escmid since 2009 and is now the program director of the annual conference, which is one of the largest international events in the field of infectiology and clinical microbiology. and the deutsche gesellschaf t für pä- diatrische infektiologie has award- ed t he t he o do r esc her ic h pr ize, w h i c h i s e n d o we d w i t h eu r 2 0, 0 0 0, t o d r. r o l a n d e l l i n g. el li n g i s a s p e c i a li st at t h e z e n - trum für kinder- und jugendmedi- zin of the university medical cent- e r a n d a f e l l o w o n t h e b e r t a o t tenstein pro gr am fo r c linic ian sc ientists of the medic al fac ult y. he was awarded the prize for his p l a n n e d p r o j e c t t o s t u d y t h e ef - fects of gluc oc or tic oid hormones o n immune c e lls in tub e rc ul o si s and other inflammator y processes using crispr /cas9 gene editing technology. the univer sit y c ollege freiburg (ucf) has awarded the sociologist m a t t h i a s l e a n z a the erasmus pr ize for the liberal a r ts and sciences 2017 for his disser tation ‘ die zeit der prävention. eine genealogie der krankheitsvorbeu- gung’. the ucf has awarded the prize annually since 2013 for work which treats its subject in an exem- plary fashion from a perspective of the science of history or epistemol- ogy and that c ontr ibutes to an interdisciplinar y methodic al and theoretical exchange. the prize is endowed with eur 5,0 0 0 and is funded by the sparkasse freiburg- nördlicher breisgau. in his disser- tation, leanza traced the develop- ment of prevention in a moder n c ontex t, t aking as an example disease prevention. prof. dr. jennifer e. reardon from the university of california, usa , has received the friedrich wilhelm bessel researc h award. the alexander von humboldt founda- tion honors internationally-recog- nized foreign sc ientists with the prize, which is endowed with eur 45,000. reardon will be working on big data in the life sciences at the university of freiburg. she will be investigating how scientists deal with the problem of interpretation of large quantities of dat a. her is prof. dr. ve r o n i k a host li p p h a r d t of the univer sit y college freiburg. this year, the univer sit y of freiburg is awarding the university teac hing award for outst anding teaching achievements to dr. anna rosen, research assistant at the depar tment of english, and prof. dr. t i m k r i e g e r, holder of the wilfr ied guth endowed chair for constitutional politic al ec onomy and competition policy. the prize is endowed with eur 5,0 0 0 for each recipient. endowed with eur 500, the special prize for student initiative goes to alexandra haag, a student of medicine. the prizes will be presented in october 2017 at the start of the 2017/18 academ- ic year. the university is honoring rosen’s teaching concept ‘applying linguistic s foreign language classroom’, which ena- bles prospective english teachers to engage with the authentic speech of school pupils in research projec ts of their own. k r ieger receives the universit y teaching award for his many year s of acclaimed teaching in economics and above all for his teac hing concept ‘economics blog’. alexan- dra haag will receive the award for her children’s referenc e book ‘paula und die zauberschuhe’. this of fer s insight into the wor ld of a child with a physical disability. the in the islamic scholar prof. dr. walid ahmad saleh from the university of toronto, canada, has received the konrad adenauer researc h award. the a lexander von humboldt foundation awards the annual pr ize, which is funded by the german foreign ministry, to an i n t e r n a t i o n a l l y - r e c o g n i z e d researcher from canada. the prize is endowed with eur 6 0,0 0 0. saleh will be researching glosses to the koran c omment ar y of al - baidawi, the most impor tant and widely- known koran c omment ar y up until the 20 th c entur y. his host is prof. dr. j o h a n n a pi n k of the o r ient al seminar. sunni at the end of marc h, prof. dr. nadine schlüter, research profes- sor at the department of operative dentistr y and per iodontology of the univer sit y m edic al c enter freiburg, received the basil g. bib- by young investigator award at the annual meeting of the international association for dental research in san franc isc o. the pr ize is endowed with usd 2,5 0 0 and honors work to date by junior researchers in the field of cariology. faculty news faculty of theology faculty of humanities the faculty of theology has awarded three honorary doctorates. the distinction was given to prof. dr. christine axt-pis- calar, holder of the chair for systematic theology and head of the institutum lu- theranum at the university of göttingen, prof. dr. wolfgang bernhardt, honorary professor for corporate governance at the university of leipzig and chair of the su- pervisory board of the frankfurter allge- meine zeitung until 2012, and prof. dr. rudolf langthaler, management of the institut für christliche philosophie at the faculty of catholic theology of the uni- versity of vienna. the rector has awarded associate profes- sor dr. stephan wahle the title of adjunct professor for the duration of his license to teach at the university of freiburg. faculty of medicine with effect from 1 may 2017, the rector has appointed prof. dr. harald binder, university medical center at the jo- hannes gutenberg university of mainz, professor of medical biometry and statis- tics. with effect from 1 may 2017, the rector has appointed prof. dr. tilmann brummer, institute of molecular medicine and cell research, professor of medical cell research and signal transduction. with effect from 1 may 2017, the rector has appointed prof. dr. matthias eder, deutsches krebsforschungszentrum hei- delberg, of radio- pharmaceutical development after the jülicher model. professor with effect from 1 april 2017, the rector has appointed prof. dr. olaf groß, tech- nical university of munich, professor of experimental neuro pathology. with effect from 1 may 2017, the rector has appointed prof. dr. andreas vlachos, heinrich-heine-universität düs- seldorf, professor of neuroanatomy. faculty of philology prof. dr. rolf kailuweit has accepted the appointment offered by the heinrich- heine-universität düsseldorf. he is leav- ing the professorship in romance lan- guages and media studies at the department of romance languages and literatures here. with effect from 1 may 2017, the rector has appointed michael abeßer from the department of history to be an adminis- trative officer for the period of three years. prof. dr. jörn leonhard has declined the appointment offered to him by the ruhr- universität bochum in connection with an appointment the kulturwissenschaftlichen institut in essen. by faculty of mathematics and physics with effect from 21 june 2017, the rector has appointed dr. andrea knue from the institute of physics to be an administrative officer for the period of three years. faculty of chemistry and pharmacy the rector has appointed prof. dr. dr. an- dreas barner, president of the stifterver- band für die deutsche wissenschaft e.v., honorary professor. dr. michael summer has accepted the appointment offered by the chemnitz uni- versity of technology. faculty of biology prof. dr. ilka diester from the institute of biology iii has declined the appointment offered by the eberhard karls university of tübingen. faculty of environment and natural resources with effect from 1 june 2017, the rector has appointed dr. malte junge of the in- stitute of geology and environmental sci- ences to be an administrative officer for the period of three years. with effect from 12 july 2017, the rector has appointed dr. gerwin wulf of the institute of geology and environmental sciences to be an administrative officer for the period of three years. faculty of engineering with effect from 1 july 2017, the rector has appointed dr. alfons dehé, infineon technologies ag, professor of smart sys- tems integration. prof. dr. thomas brox from the institute of computer science has declined the appointment offered to him by the eberhard karls university of tübingen. neue produkte im sor timent produkte finden sie im online-shop: www.shop.uni-freiburg.de und in den buchhandlungen rombach und walthari anniversaries 25th anniversaries prof. dr. ad aertsen, institute of biology iii/bernstein center freiburg prof. dr. manfred june, institute of pharmaceutical sciences lothar mertink, university computer center ralf rich, central university administration 40th anniversaries prof. dr. elisabeth cheauré, department of slavic languages and literatures prof. dr. ulrich landgraf, institute of physics prof. dr. oliver landmann, institute of economic theory and public finance venia legendi for dr. nicole falkenhayner, english literature and cultural studies dr. alberto rodríguez gonzález, physics dr. tobias hack, moral theology dr. benjamin kohlmann, english philology dr. sonja levsen, modern and contemporary history dr. alexander mischnik, medical microbiology